Developmental Distress
by Calzona's Anatomy
Summary: Set after 9x04. Sofia helps bring Callie and Arizona back together in unexpected ways.


Callie Torres sighed heavily as she let herself into her apartment. If she was honest with herself, she'd say that the last few months had been the worst of her life. Work had been crazy and her home life wasn't much better. She spent her days helping others and her nights caring for her less than willing wife and stubborn toddler. In short, Callie was exhausted.

Walking into what used to be her bedroom, Callie grabbed a shirt and some jeans before going into the bathroom to dress herself. Seeing that Arizona was either still asleep or ignoring her, she headed out into the living room and to sit on the couch to put her shoes on.

"Mami, button!" Callie heard Sofia shout from her bedroom. Shaking her head she went into her daughter's room to get her ready for daycare.

"Good morning, Baby Boo!" Callie greeted as she bent down next to her 20 month old and looked at her curiously upon realizing what she was wearing. "Well don't you look cute? Who helped you put your clothes on already?"

"Sofia did it." The little girl looked at her innocently and tugged on the front of her jeans again. "Mami, button."

Callie studied her daughter suspiciously. "Okay, Okay. What do you say?"

"Por favor, Mami." Sofia sighed impatiently. "Button, por favor."

Callie laughed at the look of impatience on her daughters face and kissed her chubby cheek as she flipped the button through the loop. "Bien bebé. Ahí está." (Okay, baby. There you go.)

"Gracias." Sofia mumbled, allowing her mother to pick her up as they headed into the kitchen.

"Bienvenido, niña." Callie replied as she buckled Sofia into her high chair. The surgeon poured some cheerios into a bowl and sat it down in front of her daughter before sticking her head back inside her wife's bedroom. "Arizona? Do you want some breakfast?" When she was ignored she sighed and stepped further into the room. "You need to eat something."

Arizona sighed and sat up. "Is Sofia awake?" She questioned as she allowed Callie to help her stand up on her crutches.

"Yes. Didn't you help her get dressed?" Callie asked, confused. Callie had had late surgeries the past few nights and Sofia had been staying with either Arizona and her nurse (when she could stay over and help) or Miranda would keep her and drop her off at daycare. The child had sometimes climbed out of her toddler bed and brought the clothes that were previously laid out for her into Arizona's room and let the blonde help her dress before Callie came over from Mark's old apartment.

"No." Arizona said rolling her eyes. "If I had gotten her dressed I would obviously already know that she's awake."

Callie sighed and stepped out of the way to let her wife walk into the kitchen.

* * *

After scrubbing out of her last surgery scheduled for the day, Callie went and tracked Miranda down in the attending's lounge. "The other day when Sofia stayed with you and Tuck, did she dress herself when she woke up?"

Miranda looked momentarily startled at the random appearance of her colleague. "Umm… sort of. Tuck had to demonstrate how to put his shirt on a few times before she did it right and I had to help a little with the pants. Why?"

"When I went to dress her this morning she was already ready. Just needed me to button her pants." Callie sighed looking dejected. "I'm supposed to be excited for her, right? I mean, it's great that she's learning and growing but with everything I've had going on lately I didn't even notice that she was trying to do it herself."

Miranda looked at her sympathetically. "Torres you're a great mom. You just need to slow down a little. Spend some time with your baby. I bet it wouldn't feel that conflicting if you'd had the time or energy to teach her yourself."

Callie chuckled. "No I guess not. I just… I'm so used to getting breaks. I'm a lazy mom. I'm so used to dropping her off with Mark whenever I needed a little time to myself and now I can't even leave her with Arizona because she's walking so great now and Arizona won't even try to keep up."

"Callie, go take a nap or read a journal. Do something for yourself while you have some free time at work. It sounds like you both need to step it up. I'm not saying that you aren't taking care of your daughter. It's not the same as just enjoying her." Miranda reached across the table and reassuringly squeezed Callie's hand. "If you don't want to miss the developments that Sofia's going through don't just take care of her. You need to play with her and spend time with her. Maybe that's something you and Arizona both need to get passed this. Sofia doesn't see either one of you differently no matter what you put each other through. You're her Mami and she loves you."

Callie nodded tearfully and smiled thankfully at the older surgeon.

* * *

Dr. Torres entered the daycare a few minutes later and smiled upon seeing Sofia standing over next to Tara at the music station bobbing her head to the children's song coming from the speakers of the sound system. Tara met her eyes over Sofia's shoulder and pointed her out to the energetic toddler. Sofia grinned when she saw her and reached for her as soon as she got close enough. "Hi, Mami!"

Callie laughed. "Hey, Sof. What are you guys doing?"

"Dancin'." Sofia wiggled her body slightly and bobbed her head again trying to continue her dance while her mother continued to hold her.

"Oh really? Can I dance too?"

"Mami no dance." Sofia said as if it was ridiculous. "Mami workin'."

Callie tried not to show her heart break on her face. "Mami's not too busy to dance with you Sof. It's actually almost time to head home to Momma."

"Sofia dancin'." Sofia told her obviously not ready to leave the daycare.

"Well you can dance a little more while I go change clothes, okay? Then we'll go home." Callie told her.

"Kay." Sofia agreed squirming to get down. Callie kissed her cheek before sitting her down and letting her to back to her friends.

* * *

"I thought that maybe we could watch a movie." Callie suggested as she made dinner for the three of them. Sofia sat on the counter in front of her helping her make the salad and Arizona was on the couch watching TV.

Arizona ignored her and continued to look at the screen.

"Movie, Mami?" Sofia questioned curiously.

"Yep. Do you wanna watch Cinderella or Beauty and the Beast?" Callie asked her. Sofia loved the mice in Cinderella and the talking furniture in Beauty and the Beast.

"Drella!" Sofia requested excitedly. Callie laughed and chanced a glance at her wife to see her smiling slightly too. Arizona nodded slightly before breaking eye contact and turning back to the TV.

After eating dinner and putting the dirty dishes in the sink Callie sat the DVD player up and sat down on the opposite end of the couch as her wife, Sofia bouncing excitedly in her seat between them. Callie laughed as her daughter excitedly talked her through her favorite parts (something she remembered her wife doing during the same movie) and pulled Sofia tighter against her when the little girl tired herself out and cuddled up against her sleepily.

They sat that way until the credits started rolling and Callie kissed Sofia's head before reluctantly standing up to go lay her down. "Think tomorrow we can convince her to watch Beauty and the Beast?" Arizona questioned quietly as Callie leaned Sofia towards her to let her kiss her cheek.

Callie grinned. "It's definitely worth a shot."

* * *

"It's not hard, Sof. All you gotta do is sit on it." Callie told her. Miranda had been right about enjoying helping her daughter develop and Callie had jumped in whole heartedly. After talking to Arizona about it they had decided that potty training was their next step. Arizona had downloaded a book onto they're iPad that showed Sofia the logistics of the experience and had gone through it with her a few times before Callie decided it was time to actually take Sofia into the bathroom.

"No." Sofia said defiantly.

Callie sighed and sat next to Sofia on the floor. "Hunny, it's not that bad. Momma and I both use the potty."

"No." Sofia said again looking at Callie questioningly. "Why do it?"

"Because it's what everyone does when they get bigger. I know you like your diapers, baby, but someday you'll get too big for your diapers and you need to use the potty."

Sofia still looked skeptical. "Momma does it?"

Callie smiled. "Yes, Sofia. Momma uses the potty, too."

Sofia nodded. "Sofia do it."

* * *

"Mami! Momma!" Sofia called out from her bedroom when she woke up a few days later. "Gotta pee!"

Callie woke with a start when she heard Sofia call out through the baby monitor. She jumped out of Mark's bed and got to Sofia's room in her own apartment as quickly as possible. She was pleasantly surprised when Arizona was standing in the doorway of Sofia's bathroom, Sofia already sitting on the toilet.

Callie leaned over Arizona's shoulder mindful of her still feeling uneasy on her prosthetic to see Sofia look up at her and grin. "Did it, Mami! Sofia pottied!"

"Yay!" Callie said enthusiastically meeting Arizona's eye as she grinned so big it almost hurt her face. "I'm so proud of you, big girl!"

"Momma proud too?" Sofia questioned as she let Callie help her back off the toilet and wash her hands.

"Yes, baby! Momma's soo proud of you!" Arizona answered as she stepped backwards unsurely to get out of Callie and Sofia's way so that they could exit the bathroom. Callie placed a stabling hand on her hip as she stepped up next to her and Arizona couldn't help meeting her eyes again briefly before helping her wife tuck their daughter back in for the night.

After they'd gotten the toddler back to sleep Callie and Arizona stood awkwardly in their living room. "Well we should get back to sleep. I have to work tomorrow and you have another physical therapy appointment in the morning." Callie rambled. Arizona hadn't looked at her with the happy loving look in her blue eyes since before the plane crash and Callie wasn't sure how to take it.

"Calliope…" The brunette turned back to her wife when she heard her name and she tensed briefly when Arizona's hands came up to cup her face. Callie couldn't hold back the whimper that came from her throat when she felt her wife's lips on her own. She kissed back until Arizona pulled away and stared at her again, not moving back or moving her hands away from Callie's face.

Callie grinned at her wife brightly and made a mental note to thank Bailey for the advice the next time they worked together.


End file.
